New user here, first post - be gentle! I acquired a Piacere Classica espresso machine when I bought a bunch of equipment for a pizza shop. It works, but is horribly filthy. No pressure guage on this - pump sounds much more noisy than even a vibe pump should - 110v, pour-over with a fluid-o-tech 70w pump. I can't find any information about this little one, so if anyone has any information, it would be greatly appreciated. Disassembly started, and I noticed the the group head apears to be heated - Is this common? What would the benefits of a heated group head be, besides cooking the group gasket?

Wow, and I thought I've seen a dirty machine before.. that's horrible. Well I can't be of much help, I don't have any espresso machine rebuilding experience, but that sounds like an awesome project. I hope you get it cleaned up and working great. It looks like it has some great potential!

I'd say that the designer opted to heat the group independently because there wasn't enough heat conduction in the machine to keep the group at a reasonable temperature. It's definitely a cheaper design route than implementing a thermosyphon. I wonder how well it works. Keep us updated!

If you are worried about the pump, you can get a full rotary pump and motor for about $50 on E-Bay if you look for a soda-machine carbonator. Add $10 for a relay. It's pretty easy after you've sorted out the NPT vs. BSPP game.

Well, after a good start, reality set in, and my dreams of being Paul Pratt were shattered by the fact that what he does is artistry, and I am no artist. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to remember how everything went back together, so I reassembled it without doing all the cool stuff I had in mind, pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/isopeanut/It was all fairly easy. Anyway, I filled the tank and turned it on, the autofill kicked in and the machine started to heat up. All was well, no leaks - until it got up to temperature - thats when steam started shooting out of the weld between the boiler and the heat exchanger. I guess it will come apart again to have the boiler fixed - unless anyone has a suggestion on some kind of cold welding compound so I could fix it in place. Other than that, seems like a decent little machine, it has a 1500w heating element, and steams as well as my Rio does. I have a dual manometer on order, and I still need to replace the high limit thermostat, which I have currently bypassed until the new one shows up.

Hey all, well it seems Portland has the only two of these machines in existence. Well, documented online at least. I hope bumping an ancient thread isn't against the rules, but I thought it made sense that these super-obscure peas remain in one pod.

So, I just got a Piacere Classica machine and a Piacere dedicated steamer. Both are pourover and use the same wacky jar water tank as the one above. The main difference I see so far between mine and isopeanut's is that my Flojet pump is bigger, and is leaking from the top a bit. Does anyone know a good number to call about this part? It looks like the whole pump is held together with 4 screws, and it's probably that o-ring. The machine has had hardly any use and is a bit dusty inside but much cleaner than it looks in pictures. Warms up pretty fast, steams like crazy but the group performs very differently from an e61. Gotta turn the pressurestat down once I find it.

Has anyone heard of a Flojet being the primary pump for an espresso machine? The thing sounds nice, similar to my Alex rotary but perhaps even quieter?https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8BjqBsw3At8/UOU XYVxosxI/AAAAAAAAUts/jHz7_PNKiec/s640/piacere.JPGclick herehttps://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-NchLdKjnWos/UOUXYh 7aGuI/AAAAAAAAUts/RlrB1LcwQG4/s640/piacere%25202.JPGclick here

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